Preparedness Strategy

• We will continue to recognise that the causes and consequences of fires and other emergencies cannot be addressed by DFRS in isolation and therefore will maximise our collaborative working.
• We will align our standards with the government’s National Resilience  Standards for Local Resilience Forums (LRFs) , within Derbyshire this is known as the Derbyshire Resilience Partnership (DRP).
• We will contribute to the effective operation of a Strategic Co-ordination Centre and Strategic Co-ordinating Group in line with National Resilience Standards.
• We will adopt the principles of integrated emergency management to effectively anticipate and assess risks and to prevent, prepare for, respond to and recover from emergencies.
• We will optimise the opportunity to gather learning, such as debrief outcomes following emergency response, training or exercising, and share it on the available systems, such as Joint

• Organisational Learning (JOL) and National Operational Learning  (NOL).

• We will work towards achieving the recommendations from the gap analysis for the Fire Standards in Operational Learning.

• By continuing to play a key role in the Derbyshire LRF (Derbyshire Prepared) with the joint aims of improving our capability to respond to any disruptive challenges, minimising adverse effects on our communities and keeping residents well informed.
• By working with emergency planning to review the suitability of multi-agency emergency plans, ensuring that these are updated within the review period.
• Through planning and attending frequent joint Control of Major Accident Hazards  (COMAH)  exercises. These will be organised and assured in co-operation with Emergency Planning and within the appropriate COMAH timeframe.
• Through planning and attending joint Radiation (Emergency Preparedness and  Public Information) Regulations (REPPIR) exercises. These will be tested within the timeframes set out by REPPIR in
  co- operation with Emergency Planning and other Category 1 responders.
• By continuing our role as lead partner for the Chemical, Biological, Radiological & Nuclear sub-group.
• By maintaining our commitment and representation on the Risk

• Assessment, Training and Exercising, Warning and Informing and Flooding sub-groups.

  By informing our external partner agencies of any operational learning utilising the NOL/JOL process and the chairing of Blue Light User Group (BLUG) meetings.

Success in this area will be the continuation of partnership working, which is vital for preparing and responding to emergencies. As such, we have close working relationships with emergency planning and our Category 1 responder

partner agencies. Through these relationships, we will ensure our procedures are effective for the emerging risks we have identified.

All appropriate actions from partnership meetings will be reported through inter-service meetings, such as the:

• Quarterly Performance Board
• Health and Safety Committee
• Training Assurance Board
• Organisational Assurance Group.

Success will also be the representation of DFRS at sub-group meetings, ensuring that appropriate content is shared and communicated accordingly.

All learning outcomes from exercises and incidents will be recorded and allocated to the most appropriate department/ individual.

Summary reports from debriefs, including learning points and actions, will be shared.

Success will be measured through the monitoring of the progress of actions assigned to departments/individuals by way of periodic review and ensuring that they are completed within the required timeframes.

There will be measures in place to ensure that JOL and NOL items are assigned and completed to a suitable standard and within an appropriate timescale.

Success will be measured with the implementation and assurance of all required action plans.

Planning

• We will plan and prepare to ensure that our response to major incidents, large-scale emergencies or other disruptive challenges is informed, efficient and effective.
• We will carry out effective risk-based preparations and emergency planning to meet our duties under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 and to keep our communities safe.
• We will work closely with other blue light partners and wider public sector organisations to enable us to assess the levels of risk for a range of potential scenarios across the county.
• We will gather and share risk information to inform our operational response.
• We will assure the suitability of our emergency plans through multi-agency exercises, developed in partnership with Emergency Planning.
• We will have plans that enable us to prepare for emergencies and take preventative or pre- emptive actions as required.
• We will measure the effectiveness of our incident commanders and leaders at all levels, through incident monitoring. Where strategic and tactical commanders (including national inter-agency liaison officers (NILOs)) are being monitored at exercises, Operational Assurance will co-ordinate joint monitoring activities with Operational Training and the Service NILO lead.
• We will ensure our major incident plans are adequate through the close working relationship with our partners and stakeholders.
• We will share our high and very high site specific risk information (SSRI) plans through Resilience Direct .
• We will embed the learning from the Manchester Arena Inquiry and contribute towards the completion of the action plan.
• We will work toward achieving the recommendations from the GAP analysis for the Fire Standards in Emergency Preparedness and Operational Preparedness.

• By continuing to work with our LRF partners to identify potential risks and produce emergency plans to either prevent or mitigate the impact of any incident on the communities of Derbyshire.
• By resourcing key work streams within the LRF with subject matter experts to develop effective multi- agency responses
• By gathering and sharing risk information using the hazard management alert and SSRI processes. Both processes enable us to consider additional risk information related to our communities which supports how we respond to emergencies.
• By developing our strategic leaders through the delivery of Multi Agency Gold Incident Command training and by maintaining a cohort of NILOs. These are conversant with the strategic and tactical priorities of each of the other emergency services and response agencies.
• By sharing risk information through Resilience Direct to inform cross border agencies of the risks within Derbyshire.
• By working with our partner blue light services, we will review and adopt a joint major incident plan that meets the needs of all responders.
• By reinstating the Organisational Assurance Group, (OAG), to increase governance of assurance across the Service.
• By reviewing the PDAs for all SSRI higher risk sites.
• By reviewing and aligning ways of working at a regional level.

We recognise that planning plays a key role in our operational preparedness and effectiveness.

Success in this area will be effective planning through the maintenance of procedures, accurate risk information and the assurance of our plans through training and exercising.

We will provide support and advice to Emergency Planning in order to produce suitable multi-agency risk plans

Our SSRIs will be moderated to ensure they are of the highest standard. We will obtain up-to-date SSRI risk information from our neighbouring fire and rescue services, which we will make available on Resilience Direct and our appliance portable devices.

Our partners will be notified through Resilience Direct when our SSRI plans have been updated.

We will exchange trending data with operational training to further plan training across our command roles in support of technical and behavioural elements.

Finally, we will identify and implement improvements to our procedures based on the Manchester Arena Inquiry (MAI) recommendations and any future recommendations. Relevant MAI recommendations will be assigned to the appropriate department/ individual for completion.

Success will be measured through the monitoring of progress against relevant MAI recommendations.

Success will be achieved through the review and planning achieved through the SSRI Assurance Board.

Success will be achieved through cohesive working within EMOGG and its subgroups producing guidance in the form of OINs.

• We will continue to be part of the Joint Emergency ServicesInteroperability Programme (JESIP) Exercise and Training sub-group.

This considers joint training and exercising opportunities and the associated learning. This enables us to work alongside other emergency services to deal with incidents effectively and minimise any impact on our communities.

• We will measure the effectiveness of our incident commanders and leaders at all levels through incident monitoring. Where strategic and tactical commanders (including NILOs) are being monitored at exercises, Operational Assurance will coordinate joint monitoring activities with Operational Training and the Service NILO lead.
• We will participate in frequent joint COMAH exercises with Emergency Planning and other Category 1 responders.
• We will assure joint working (JESIP) at multi-agency exercises and incidents through the debriefing process.

• By making sure our strategic preparedness aligns with National Operational Guidance (NOG) to ensure we are adopting best practice.
• By undertaking exercises and training with other emergency responders with objectives linked to risk.

This is to enhance ways of working, interoperability and operational preparedness.

• By aligning Incident Command and associated training to the latest JESIP principles.
• By ensuring our exercises are linked to important community risks, such as COMAH sites and premises or locations that are high on our risk profile.
• By publishing and reviewing an annual training exercise schedule.
• By monitoring the number of exercises completed on the exercise schedule.

Training and exercising are vital for the assurance of our operational procedures, risk information and how we respond to incidents.

Success in this area will be the continued management and monitoring of the training exercise planner and working to the exercises SP

We will also monitor the quality of Operational Debrief (DB1) submissions following exercises, and support and advise crews who are scheduled to organise exercises.

Success will be measured by reporting the number of exercises completed to the Quarterly Performance Board.

Learning outcomes from exercises will be identified through the debriefing process.

All learning outcomes will be recorded and allocated to the most appropriate department/ individual.

Summary reports from debriefs, which will include learning points and actions, will also be shared.

We will assign and/or encourage the use of incident command monitoring at exercises by attending officers. NOG recommendations will also be assigned to the respective department/individual for completion.

Success will be measured by monitoring the progress of actions assigned to departments / individuals by way of periodic review to ensure that they are completed within the required timeframe.

• We will continue our commitment to maintaining specialist capabilities to support local, regional and national incident responses.
• We will have clear, inclusive and agreed governance arrangements for both single-service and national resilience capabilities

in line with the National Co-ordination and Advisory Framework , including defined roles and responsibilities.

• We will evidence assurance of our resilience capabilities, validated by regular testing using a risk-based exercise programme, either as a single service or with other relevant responder organisations at operational, tactical and strategic levels.
• We will carry out a review to identify appropriate strategic holding areas within and outside of Derbyshire.

• By maintaining our High-Volume Pump capability, which provides us with the ability to move large amounts of water from one location to another.
• By continuing to maintain and declare Derbyshire assets that are able to respond as part of a national flood response – this comprises personnel and rescue boats that provide search and rescue capability during large- scale urban flood events.
• By ensuring the preparedness of National Resilience assets through operational training and our strategic and tactical single points of contact:
• Hazmat Detection, Identification and Monitoring Advisors who provide us with the ability to identify chemicals and other substances that may be encountered at incidents involving hazardous materials.
• Waste Fire Tactical Advisor (WFTA) who provides planning advice at strategic, tactical and operational levels for the appropriate waste fire response. Large-scale waste fires can be particularly challenging incidents to deal with.

Success in this area will be the assurance of our national resilience capabilities through training and exercising.

We will continue to work with National Resilience capability officers to maintain our preparedness and collaborate with our Performance Station Managers who manage national resilience assets to ensure these capabilities are maintained.

Learning outcomes from incidents and exercises will be identified through the debriefing process. All learning outcomes will be recorded and allocated to the most appropriate department/individual.

Tactical advisors will maintain their competency through continued professional development, which will be co-ordinated via their respective leads (local, national or regional) or through a practitioner group.

Success will be measured through auditing and subsequent action plans to track progress.

The effectiveness of our tactical advisors will be assured through exercising and debriefing.

The progress of actions assigned to departments/ individuals will be monitored by way of periodic review, ensuring that they are completed within the required timeframe.

Success will also be monitored through the maintenance of the Service Procedures and Standard Operational Guidance documents that relate to National Resilience Assets.

• We will debrief incidents, exercises and events of note for the purpose of promoting operational and organisational learning.
• We will evaluate the effectiveness of our response and operational actions against standard operational procedures and National Operational Guidance.
• We will identify the key stakeholders for the implementation of operational and organisational learning.
• We will apply learning themes to inform the exercise planner and incident monitoring.
• We will review our internal procedures relating to assurance for increased effectiveness.

• Through the monitoring and maintenance of the DB1 system.
• By monitoring Incidents Closed and selecting incidents for structured internal debriefs (DB2) or multi-agency debriefs (DB3).
• We will facilitate structured internal debriefs and multi- agency debriefs, as per the College of Policing framework.
• We will produce summary reports which will be hosted on Sharepoint and communicated via the Operational Assurance Bulletin.
• We will assign actions from learning points to the most appropriate individuals/ departments
• We will support the organisation of exercises across the service.
• We will share learning points through NOL and JOL.
• By periodically reviewing and evaluating our own processes.

We recognise that debriefing is a key element in organisational learning and continuous improvement.

We will aim for a high engagement rate by providing a blend of methods to engage with participants.

We will create, moderate and publish debrief summary reports as per the Debrief Service Procedure.

The creation of Operational Assurance reports, which will be provided for Health & Safety Committee (HSC) and the Fleet, Equipment, Procurement & Services (FEPS) meeting.

We will monitor the completion of FSAP elements assigned as a result of debriefs.

We will assure the completion rate of the OAB using Redkite.

We will inform the Blue Light User Group through our representative.

Advancement of our assurance processes to meet current and future needs of the organisation.

We will use current procedures and NOG as a benchmark for standards and operational activity.

We will monitor and action incoming NOL and JOL items.

We will monitor and assure Incident Administration submissions.

We will work closely with our Learning and Development to align practices.